Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has conceded that beating Mercedes at the Brazilian Grand Prix will be “tough”, off the back of Friday’s practice results.
Vettel and Ferrari have not won since Formula 1’s summer break, with their respective title challenges unravelling amid a series of driver errors and reliability setbacks.
Mercedes controlled proceedings on Friday at Interlagos, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finishing 1-2 in both sessions, which took place in dry conditions.
Vettel, meanwhile, spun through Pinheirinho in FP1, placing sixth best, though improved to fourth in the afternoon, with Ferrari and Red Bull closely matched.
Vettel, though, has admitted that Mercedes may be out of reach at the front of the field.
“Mercedes looked very strong, so I think they are a bit ahead, both of them, then I think it’s very close between us and Red Bull,” said Vettel.
“We did a lot of laps today, it’s more quiet on track than off track so I enjoy that.
“We’ll see what we get tomorrow, but I think we can fine tune the balance and that will help us.
“[But] it will be tough to beat Mercedes as they look very quick in all conditions and all tyres so let’s see.”
Kimi Räikkönen, meanwhile, was third fastest in FP1, but slipped to sixth in the second session.
"The tyres will play a key role here as usual, the performance will depend on how they work and how long they will last," he said.
"I felt some vibrations at the beginning of my stint, but that’s quite normal to have sometimes in the car: usually it comes from tyres and different sets.
"We don’t know what the temperatures will be over the rest of the weekend, but we cannot change them anyway and it will be the same for everybody."
Ferrari has not captured victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix since Felipe Massa’s dramatic triumph in the 2008 title finale.
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